This is a pretty cool, in depth, review of the Books of Jacob. It’s interesting to think about. The author of this (and Tokarczuc) have clearly read/thougt a lot more about gosticism than me.
The review’s thesis is that in its preoccupation with gnosticism and mysticism, The Books of Jacob ends up “reducing the messianism horizon” and minimizing the criticsms/comments that can be mode about specific things in the world (because of course it’s bad – it’s the gnostic imperfect world that cannot be redeemed, only transcended. demiurge). It also draws parallels between this and the liberal novel with an all-encompossing expansive narrator, in that it can only present and can’t really… comment?
idk, it was a bit hard to understand.
Says you can’t make the basic political reading that its just about revising Polish history because that discards like most of the novel (all the mysticism bits). it’s about mysticism, and relates the gnostic story of god and the demiurge to messianic attempts to bring about whatever. but the messiah just transcends the world, doesnt’t change it (gnostic) not like jewish/christian messiah’s are meant to.
thus, yente, always watching &c., is a second messiah in the same vein, but she’s transcended the world. and can just watch everything, but can’t affect it.
yop. big thoughts. i thunk??